Skanda Purana — Prabhasa Khanda, Shloka 9
तृषार्त्तश्च क्षुधाविष्टो रुदते च मुहुर्मुहुः । दृष्टा चेत्कथ्यतां सुभ्रूर्विनाऽयं तां मरिष्यति
tṛṣārttaśca kṣudhāviṣṭo rudate ca muhurmuhuḥ | dṛṣṭā cetkathyatāṃ subhrūrvinā'yaṃ tāṃ mariṣyati
Dia diseksa oleh dahaga dan ditimpa kelaparan, serta menangis berulang-ulang. Jika engkau telah melihatnya, wahai yang beralis indah, mohon katakan—tanpanya, dia akan mati.
The husband of Maṇikarṇikā (narrative character; direct speech)
Tirtha: Arbuda-niḥjhara/jalāśaya (as implied in the episode)
Type: kund
Listener: Śaunaka and the Naimiṣāraṇya sages (typical frame) / within episode addressed to a King (rājan appears later)
Scene: A desperate, emaciated man, parched and hungry, repeatedly weeping and pleading with a woman of gentle brow to reveal the whereabouts of his beloved; the landscape hints at a sacred water-source nearby.
FAQs
Dharma is inseparable from compassion: the narrative foregrounds the duty to protect life, even as the tīrtha’s sacred power is about to be revealed.
The Maṇikarṇikā tīrtha context continues; the dialogue unfolds at the sacred waters associated with the legend.
No explicit rite; the verse intensifies the narrative stakes that lead to the tīrtha-māhātmya’s demonstration.